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Building on Success - Future Directions for the Allied Health Professions in Scotland
Setting the Scene
1. Creating the Vision . . .
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are critical to people's ongoing assessment, treatment and rehabilitation throughout their illness episodes. They support people of all ages in their recovery, helping them to return to work and to participate in sport or education. They enable children and adults to make the most of their skills and abilities and to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles. And they provide specialist diagnostic assessment and treatment services.
1. Creating the Vision . . .
At any stage of life, people may encounter health difficulties which change the way they are able to function. For some, the changes will be temporary, allowing them to make full recoveries from their illness or injury. For others, the life changes will be enduring, meaning they have to learn to adjust to developmental difficulties, disability or chronic illness.
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) are critical to people's ongoing assessment, treatment and rehabilitation throughout their illness episodes. They support people of all ages in their recovery, helping them to return to work and to participate in sport or education. They enable children and adults to make the most of their skills and abilities and to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles. And they provide specialist diagnostic assessment and treatment services.
While advances in medical science are aimed at saving and prolonging life, the particular skills and expertise of AHPs are often critical to the ongoing assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of individuals. Practical interventions from AHPs can often be the most significant factor in enabling people to recover movement or mobility, overcome visual problems, improve nutritional status, develop communication abilities and restore confidence in everyday living skills, consequently helping them to sustain and enjoy quality of life even when faced with life-limiting conditions.
This document profiles the work of AHPs and highlights their contribution to improving and maintaining health and wellbeing. It explains how this diverse group of health professionals will be supported and developed, and sets out the vision that will enable them to:
fully engage their expertise in improving health in Scotland
deliver excellence in health and social care
support the development of best practice in multi-professional teams.
The document provides AHPs with the opportunity to take stock of their achievements to date, to review existing and new challenges, and to engage with other health, education and social care colleagues to initiate and drive change forward.
Delivering the vision set out in the document requires the commitment of all stakeholders, but in particular it needs the continued support and development of the most valuable resource of all - the AHP workforce. New and experienced practitioners need to be retained within the service, and the AHPs of the future need positive fieldwork experience to support their development.
Leaders of AHPs have a significant role to play in delivering this vision and in nurturing the leaders of the future. To do this, they need to work in partnership with each other, with decision makers, other professions and, most importantly, the people who use their services.
"They treat me like an individual. They understand my problems and have really helped me to make progress since I had my stroke. It's been so good having my rehabilitation at home. I could come home earlier from hospital and it's helped my husband and me to cope at home. I really appreciate the specialist skills of the therapists and it is a real comfort to know that I can just pick up the phone at any time for advice." - stroke patient receiving rehabilitation from a dedicated community team.
Health and social care services in Scotland are working hard to respond effectively to the challenges of modernisation and increased public expectation in what is an exciting period of innovation and evolution. AHPs are ready to play their part in shaping the services that will meet people's needs, building on the success of the past to create a vision for the future.
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